I don't think this needs to split the fanbase. Both extreme takes are wrong and the truth lies in the middle. You don't need to take sides. Its not a case of Brennan being useless to us and its also not a case that Brennan is perfect and deserves to start.
Brennan scores a lot of goals and scored our most important goal in nearly 40 years last season. That is just fact. His numbers are really good. Yes, 90% of them are tap ins but he gets in them positions that "better" wingers like Kudus and Odobert don't!
Brennan's overall performances have been very underwhelming. He loses nearly all his duals and never seems to come out of any 1v1 battle on top. He's just not a touchline winger and he needs to be accommodated with an overlapping fullback or a striker who can drop deeper to give him space to run inside. His perfect conditions are him playing as a right winger with Spence playing right back and Solanke as the striker. Playing on the left with Spence behind him and Richarlison as his striker just does not work. Brennan does not work as a touchline winger. He doesn't have the skillset for it.
So where does that leave us with Brennan? A very good squad player who offers something uniquely different to our other wide players like Kudus, Simons, Odobert and Kulusevski. But he should not be used as a like for like replacement. He cannot to what Kudus can do on the right and we shouldn't ask him to even try it. When Brennan is on the pitch then we need to find a way to get him coming into the box more. Either play him as a second striker, or else give him his perfect conditions as a wide player (Udogie overlapping on the left or Spence overlapping on the right). I also don't think he can play in the same team as richarlison. He needs solanke.
Just so you know, BJ's duel rate is that he wins 60% of them.
To add a little context, I got an AI overview on him;
Percentile Rankings:
Johnson's tackles are around the 56th percentile, while his blocks and clearances place him in higher brackets, often in the 60s and 70s, indicating decent defensive work for his position.
Comparison:
Compared to other attacking midfielders and wingers, Johnson's defensive contributions are considered above average, but his strengths are found in his offensive play, such as finishing and positioning.
So this belief that he contributes nothing, outside of tap in goals, is an absolute fallacy.
I went through this at the end of last season, the only winger in the Prem who contributed more, defensively, than BJ was Brian Mbeumo.
Simply put, there's an element here that only see what they want to see, where he is concerned. He contributes more, from an overall team perspective, than Bowen, who some lunatics think we should wax £80M on! He contributes FAR more than Anthony Gordon, who some people would sell their Mother's for!
He's actually up in the top percentile for wingers in the PL, at either end of the pitch.
But he can't dribble past a bloke, so sell him.
The Darwin Awards would have a field day with the nimrods on here.
. As far as Tel goes I think we sometimes forget, I know I do, how young the boy is and that he is still settling in a new country/league. He won't be 21 until next April.
